Why Saying I Love You Isn’t Something You Should Hold Back

I love you. This is the new mantra that I’m chanting to myself lately. I don’t just chant it to myself as a self-love thing, though. I say it (in my mind, of course) to every single person I know and encounter.

I know, I know. That’s so weird, right? How can I possibly love every single person I come into contact with? And doesn’t that just mean that the love I give to those I’m especially close with is empty or no stronger than a random coworker?

Okay, no.

Love is something that I feel has been perverted and undermined throughout my life. I was raised in a conservative home. My parents were very strict in their teachings about what love is and should be. I was taught that you should love your husband and children above all else. You should destroy yourself in honor of others, and always put everything aside for the will of someone who loves you. You should be kind to others, but love should be reserved for only those who you are blood related to, or married to.

I’ve come to understand love very differently than what my family seems to see it as.

Here’s why.

My perception of life is that all is one. This means, my soul spark, my essence, my Higher Self, everything I am/have been/will ever be, it is all part of the same life force that is of the Highest Consciousness, Source. This is the same for everyone. Every single person you know, from your best friend to the guy who cut you off in traffic this morning, are a part of this consciousness. This also includes dogs, trees, mosquitoes, everything that lives. They all have the same spark of life in them, just from a different perception in a different individual reality is all.

Literally, they are all another you. So in that line of thinking, how can you reserve your love for only certain people, when in the end, we are all one essence of the Universal Consciousness? How can you love certain parts of you while hating other parts of you?

A quote from my favorite book series by author Jacqueline Carey states,

“Love as thou wilt.”

This means that I will extend love, unconditionally, to every being I come into contact with. I will love them to the point that I am unattached to what role they end up playing in my life, whether they stay forever or leave me in a few days.